Letters to the Editor - Greens to help the aged

Published: 22 April, 2010

• ON your pages Illtyd Harrington reflected on our aging society (Elderly will be forgotten again after election, April 15).
He noted the huge voting power of pensioners, and yet there is, from the three Westminster parties, little on offer to them.
With more than 20 per cent of pensioners living in poverty, where are the bold steps to end that at the stroke? Where is a strategy to deal with the cost of personal care, so that people are not faced with the psychological blow of having to sell their homes to fund care?
There’s only one place where voters can find an effective policy for old age. The Green Party is, within its fully costed manifesto, providing for a £170 single/ £300 couple pension, which the National Pensioners’ Convention has calculated would lift every pensioner out of poverty. And there’s personal care provided by the state, as already available in Scotland.
Additionally, the Green Party would end the default retirement age, so that people have the freedom to go on working and contributing to society if they wish.
BEATRlX CAMPBELL
Green Party candidate
Hampstead & Kilburn